Today we’d like to introduce you to Laurie Baer.
Hi Laurie, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Twenty years ago, a neighbor and I were carpooling our kiddos to school week after week. We began meeting up to ride horse together around our rural neighborhood every now and again. Our conversations went deep fast and soon we realized that we had similar childhoods that were riddled with trauma and horses were a huge part of our path towards healing! It wasn’t long before the Lord was working out our purpose and how He would use our past to fuel it.
HIS Haven Ranch started out as two gals riding their horses through the fields and down the gravel roads processing their painful pasts and reaching out to the Lord who hears our prayers. From there, He has used many hands to build this place we call HIS Haven Ranch to serve our surrounding communities with a place of hope and healing. It is our mission to empower and transform lives through Healing In the Savior, hence the acronym HIS. We accomplish this by coming alongside individuals with the aid of a horse (equine assisted learning) and teaching them horsemanship skills as well as skills that will help them grow healthy relationships with God, themselves and others throughout life. Touching hearts one hoof beat at a time.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has been a winding road to say the least! In our early years, just finding a place to provide these services was a challenge 🙂 We did not own a property with any sort of riding arena so we were nomads going to area riding arenas who would allow us to use their facility to provide sessions. We would haul everything there including the horses! Parents would sometimes get lost causing their rider’s lesson to be shorter than the intended 90 minutes. It was exhausting yet we made it work.
Then we began looking at properties that folks were willing to donate but when we would go to the county meetings to get the required permits, the surrounding neighborhoods would oppose our permit for various reasons ranging from increase in traffic to fear of who might be coming to HIS Haven. It was a discouraging 3 years of going from place to place. My husband and I went to our county and asked if we could get a permit for HIS Haven Ranch to be on our farm, but we could not because we live in a special protection district wetland area. We were disappointed. Finally, we thought we had our forever home when an area farmer offered us 5 acres to rent to build our arena and horse stable on!!! We planted pastures and pounded fence posts and made our plans. Less than a year into the building process they went into bankruptcy, and we lost our lease. Back to square one. We were incredible discouraged at this point. That is when I felt the Lord say to go to my county and ask if there was any land on the 50 acres my husband and I owned that could be permitted for HIS Haven Ranch. The county sent us an aerial view map with approximately 14 acres that were outside of the special protection district!!! We were thrilled and began the process of selling HIS Haven Ranch 8 acres of that piece to begin building a place for hope to grow!!!!
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Several years ago, a woman came to my door and asked if I was the “horse lady.” I giggled and replied, “Well, I work with horses and I am a lady so I guess I am.” Horses have been a part of my healing from early childhood. My Momma will tell you that from the time I could walk, I was making everything I could swing my leg over into “my horse.” From boxes to propane tanks, I would tie a rope to it to make reins and ride it everywhere I could imagine. I guess you could say that I have been a horse girl my entire life. I believe God places those dreams and desires in us according to Psalm 37:4 when we delight ourselves in Him.
Once He healed me of the trauma that I had experienced, He began using me with the horses and His Words to help heal others. At HIS Haven Ranch, we use the herd to teach us about the Word of God. Each week we spend time together in His Word, caring for His herd and working with His horses. It is amazing how much horses reflect not only where we’re facing battles but also the Father’s love. Horses are always honest with us.
We take “used alot” horses lol. I joke around alot about this but seriously we run a nursing home for horses! Sometimes they come to us through a will after someone has passed or a family just isn’t using their horse anymore or the family just wants the horse to have a good life and we have a good reputation for the care we give our herd. Whatever the reason, I am proud of the fact that people trust us with their 4-legged family member when they are in their most vulnerable years.
We have come alongside over 1200 individuals since our start date!!! I am very proud of that 🙂 And we have had individuals who have been riding with us for the entire 20 years! Many of them have become team. Once a rider has grown to a point where they want to help others, we invite them to join the team and become a side walker aka wrangler. As they get closer to 18 years old, we encourage them to become a ride coach if they are inclined. We have been blessed with many gifted folks who have stuck around our entire 20 years <3
I think the thing I am most proud of though and what sets us apart from other horse camps is the discipleship piece ~ leading others to Jesus and watching them follow Him. To live a life compelled by love and driven be eternity is a full time job and never dull!!! Being recently healed of stage 3 lung cancer, I can confidently say this…..”My worst day with Jesus is better than my best day without Him!”
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Probably my persistence and hopefully others would say my integrity. Integrity is doing what’s right when nobody is looking. It’s sometimes needing to dig down deep and discover true grit. I don’t give up on people or horses. I see the gold in them. I didn’t give up on this dream God placed in my heart when the going got tough. I planted my heels down, grabbed the reins and kept my eyes on Jesus and rode forward. Just because God places a dream inside of you filled with purpose doesn’t mean it will be a walk in the park 🙂
Contact Info:
- Website: https://hishavenranch.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hishavenranch?igsh=MXdOanZnNmxrdHh3Mg==
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HISHavenRanch
